Tivoli Gardens
Theme park · Bernstorffsgade ·
Historic amusement park with antique rides, gardens, and entertainment
Historic amusement park with antique rides, gardens, and entertainment
"A historic amusement park in the heart of the city, this 1843 pleasure garden has evolved through wars and changing times, and in winter it turns utterly hygge, with early sunsets revealing trees strung with red hearts and ornaments and air scented with hot aebleskiver and roasted almonds. We loved the design details—buildings and promenades shaped by generations of architects, a theater tucked into a pagoda, a restaurant disguised as a chalet, skill games hiding in alleys, and lamps shaped like flowers—plus whimsical holiday touches like a claw machine packed with wrapped gifts, a windmill in a giant Santa hat, and fake snow dusting every roof. The rides rise over it all: the Star Flyer lifts you 260 feet for a gentle 360-degree spin over the city (on clear days, you can see as far as Sweden), the 1914 coaster—the oldest in Europe—still runs with a live brakeman, and the 1943 ferris wheel rotates at a snail’s pace for a bird’s-eye view. Step through the main gate and a fantasyland of stalls selling glogg and roasted almonds opens up, the whole park smelling of mulling spices and powdered sugar, while almost 900 Christmas trees, 3,000 yards of spruce garlands, 18,000 hyacinths, and glowing red hearts transform the grounds after dark." - Tamara Shopsin Tamara Shopsin Tamara Shopsin is an illustrator, graphic designer, writer, part-time cook, and co-owner of the New York City eatery Shopsin’s. Her work has been published in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Verge, Travel + Leisure, Vulture, and more. Travel + Leisure Editorial Guidelines
"Pretty and fun in any season, this original amusement park — the inspiration for Walt Disney’s Disneyland — truly comes alive over the holidays, when short winter afternoons turn to darkness and thousands of lights brighten the sky. Right in the city center I can ride roller coasters or an Elf train, ice skate or drive bumper cars, and even meet Father Christmas; there’s an admission fee, but it’s well worth it. More than 1,000 decorated Christmas trees and countless lights illuminate the festivities, and it also hosts the city’s largest Christmas market." - Henrietta Lovell
"Entering Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens during the holiday season feels like wandering into an undiscovered Nordic village. This 175-year-old theme park is transformed annually into a Christmas market with 60 stalls swathed in magical decor, including log cabins draped in pine cones and layers of snow—and that’s without mentioning the garden itself, which glows with over 70,000 Christmas baubles and 1,000-plus trees draped in lights." - Nicole Kliest
"Tivoli Gardens becomes a fairy-lit winter theme park—decked out in more than 500,000 lights—where I warmed by log fires while listening to the Tivoli Youth Guard, enjoyed rollercoasters and family stage shows at the Glass Hall Theater and Tivoli Concert Hall, and sampled Danish treats like aebleskiver and honninghjerter; it’s the very embodiment of hygge during the holidays." - Caitlin Morton
"Opened in 1843 and the world’s second-oldest operating amusement park, Tivoli Gardens offers rides for everyone from young children to ageless thrill-seekers, plus archery, old-school fair games, themed gardens, shops and daily shows from performers and musicians. Autumn is particularly atmospheric as the illuminations switch on earlier, fairy lights guide your way along the paths, and Halloween (running 9th October–1st November 2020) brings ghosts, bats, spiders and over 20,000 pumpkins, with stalls selling tricks, treats and decorations, a children’s treasure hunt and themed activities; from 28th–30th October artist Malik Mabe will be carving giant pumpkins to display in front of the Nimb water fountains. Tickets can be purchased for admission only or as all-inclusive ride packages." - Elizabeth Winter